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M-commerce sales surge in UK

M-commerce sales volumes surged by 78% in the UK in the last six months, but their value rose even more with an 85% leap. That’s according to new figures from e-tail digital agency Visualsoft which pulled data from over 1,600 retailers.

Smartphone shopping is surging in the UK - DR

It said the biggest boost came on Black Friday when mobile revenue sales spiked to more than three times the average daily total for the entire six-month period.

Other data-based and anecdotal reports from analysts and individual companies has backed up this view of m-commerce as the key growth area at present with the Christmas shopping period in particular having seen a smartphone shopping boom.

But Visualsoft also said that the rise in m-tail increases the attention retailers need to pay to the mobile sites. Chief sales officer Tim Johnson said: “Mobile sales are booming as consumers increasingly look for the convenience and flexibility offered by shopping on-the-go. However, if a potential customer visits a mobile site which is difficult to use, it’s unlikely that they will make a purchase. Retailers must therefore take steps to ensure they are developing fully-optimised mobile sites to take advantage of this growth.”

He added that retailers must harness the power of social media as “huge numbers of consumers use phones and tablets to browse apps such as Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat on a daily basis, so a strong brand offering on these platforms, with a simple and effective click-through journey can provide a massive boost to sales.”